Three hospitals and clinics where doctors and nurses working for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) were providing essential medical services to people caught up in the horrendous conflict in Yemen have come under attack in as many months. And this figure does not include attacks on MSF-supported health facilities in other conflict zones.
The bloodiest of these attacks was in Kunduz, Afghanistan, in October. Forty-two people were killed when the US military destroyed MSF’s fully functioning trauma centre. The US version of events was that the attack was a mistake. This was followed by an apology from the commander-in-chief of what is allegedly the most sophisticated military machine on the planet. This leaves us with more questions than answers and, months later, we are still waiting for access to the full details of the US military investigation. On 10 January in Razeh, northern Yemen, when another hospital came under attack, six people were killed and seven others wounded. It is still not clear who was responsible for this specific attack, but the Saudi-led coalition, supported by the British military, has been bombing hospitals across Yemen for the past 10 months.
On Tuesday, the foreign secretary, Philip Hammond, addressed the House of Commons and claimed that there had been no “deliberate” breaches of international humanitarian law by Saudi Arabia in Yemen. Hammond based this assertion on feedback from British military personnel who are helping Saudi Arabia identify targets in Yemen’s war.
I will not comment on the efficiency of the UK’s military technical support in hitting the right targets, or ask why – with the benefit of such support – hospitals, schools, markets and all sorts of places where civilians congregate are still routinely being bombed in Yemen.
But I will highlight two reasons why I find these claims offensive and irresponsible.
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